We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide
No evidence of building control inspection?
pollock_2
Posts: 1 Newbie
I'm currently in the process of buying an early 1900s terraced house.
There is a kitchen extension to the back of the house. This was built in the 1950s as confirmed by our surveyor.
Our solicitor has completed searches and states that there are no records either held by the vendor or by the local council either of planning permission or of building control inspection.
The solicitor has stated that as the extension was constructed in the 1950s and is therefore 50-60 years old, the lack of a record of planning permission is no longer an issue. I have read up on this and believe this to be correct.
I am, however, worried about the lack of evidence of any building control inspection. We have had a Homebuyers Report carried out by a reputable surveyor and he has not uncovered any issues. He recommended that a full structural survey was not necessary as no obvious defects were showing and the house appears to be in good condition.
As well as worrying about any potential issues, I am however concerned that the lack of building control evidence may affect future resale value. Would it be expected with a building/extension of this age?
There is a kitchen extension to the back of the house. This was built in the 1950s as confirmed by our surveyor.
Our solicitor has completed searches and states that there are no records either held by the vendor or by the local council either of planning permission or of building control inspection.
The solicitor has stated that as the extension was constructed in the 1950s and is therefore 50-60 years old, the lack of a record of planning permission is no longer an issue. I have read up on this and believe this to be correct.
I am, however, worried about the lack of evidence of any building control inspection. We have had a Homebuyers Report carried out by a reputable surveyor and he has not uncovered any issues. He recommended that a full structural survey was not necessary as no obvious defects were showing and the house appears to be in good condition.
As well as worrying about any potential issues, I am however concerned that the lack of building control evidence may affect future resale value. Would it be expected with a building/extension of this age?
0
Comments
-
I'm currently in the process of buying an early 1900s terraced house.
There is a kitchen extension to the back of the house. This was built in the 1950s as confirmed by our surveyor.
Our solicitor has completed searches and states that there are no records either held by the vendor or by the local council either of planning permission or of building control inspection.
The solicitor has stated that as the extension was constructed in the 1950s and is therefore 50-60 years old, the lack of a record of planning permission is no longer an issue. I have read up on this and believe this to be correct.
I am, however, worried about the lack of evidence of any building control inspection. We have had a Homebuyers Report carried out by a reputable surveyor and he has not uncovered any issues. He recommended that a full structural survey was not necessary as no obvious defects were showing and the house appears to be in good condition.
As well as worrying about any potential issues, I am however concerned that the lack of building control evidence may affect future resale value. Would it be expected with a building/extension of this age?
You are worrying over nothing.Science adjusts its views based on what's observed.
Faith is the denial of observation, so that belief can be preserved.
:A Tim Minchin :A
0 -
I think you have to use your common sense. There are limits to how far back it is reasonable to go.
Unfortunately some mortgage lenders do not limit how far back they expect solicitors to check for building regulation contraventions. In this kind of case I would warn the client that they needed to be happy about the structural condition of the extension and I would tell the lender that there was no chance of enforcement action and suggest their surveyor might think that after all this time the likelihood of structural failure was very small. Hopefully the surveyor would agree and the mortgage and the transaction would go through.
The fact that some lenders do take this line is frankly annoying, but it is not possible for someone like me to get through to the people who make the policies for the lenders to suggest they take a more sensible view. Halifax has no limits to how far back we are supposed to go - Nationwide limits it to 10 years. So there is a minor irritation factor with lenders but in the real world most people will use their common sense and hopefully a lender will do so also.
Mind you I did once have solicitor asking me for the planing permission for the original construction of a C14th listed building!RICHARD WEBSTER
As a retired conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful assuming any properties concerned are in England/Wales but I accept no liability for it.0 -
This happened to my friend.
Turned out the "extention" was a "lean to", which partialy collapsed when he removed some flags.
Just a thought...0 -
I am going through this problem at the moment. We have a 1920s terraced house bought 10 years ago. Previous owner had the house for a year. We are now selling our house the buyer's solicitor is asking for building reg certification for wall removed to knock through the lounge and chimney breast removed. We have no idea when the works were done. The through lounge was mentioned in our survey when we bought and the seller said the work was already done when she bought but she took out an indemnity policy on our behalf to cover lack of building regs.
The buyers suveryor has said the work looks structurally sound.
Our solicitor offered an indemnity policy to cover lack of building regs but the buyer's solicitor has rejected this. This is because the buyer wants to put in a loft extension and they are saying if they get the council in to provide building reg approval for the loft extension it will invalidate the indemnity policy. They have requested that we get the council to supply building regs regularisation. The problem here, apart from the length of time it would take, is the council will only certify if the work was done after November 1985 - but we have no idea when the work was done - we only know it was more than 11 years ago.
I believe the buyer is obtaining a mortgage through Nationwide - and thought I read somewhere that they are only concerned with work done up to 10 years ago.
Our solicitor has gone back to the buyer's solicitor with the difficulty of getting council to come out when we don't know when the work was done and we're waiting for their response.. We used the solicitor because they were part of the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme and thought they would have sufficient experience to overcome issues we face.
IN the meantime, we are keen to try and get the sale moving again so wondered if you have any other suggestions as to what we could try?
Thanks0 -
There has only really been building control as we currently know since 1985. Any work done before this wouldn't have required permission, so there will be no records of it.
The council, as you have found, will not regularise it if fond prior to this. And if you want them to do it now, it will have to meet current regs, not the ones in force at the time of the work.
Would a structural engineers report satisfy them? You may have to do some opening up...
The other thing about an indemnity policy is that (AFAIK) only protects against enforcement action, not against structural defects. And BC cannot enforce 11 years after the work was done, so the indemnity is essentially worthless anyway. You may wish to read the small print on the policy to check this.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 354.8K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.5K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.6K Spending & Discounts
- 247.6K Work, Benefits & Business
- 604.6K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.6K Life & Family
- 262.2K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards